80’s: Sylvari Necromancer (Main). Human: Thief, Warrior (PvP Main), Engineer. Charr Guardian
Leveling
Leveling with a ranger is really easy since your pets will basically do all of the work until you get to higher levels. You should experiment with all of the weapons and pets as you go, and don’t worry about trait choice too much until you hit 80. You’ll be resetting them twice as you use the trait tier books, and by the time you hit level 60 it should be pretty clear how you want to spec.
The best thing you can do is play the ranger the way that it feels most comfortable for you. There is a pretty high skill barrier since rangers, more than other professions, have to continuously manage their special ability (pets), so there is no reason to make it harder on yourself than it needs to be.
…and yes, sword-torch is probably the best overall damage set we have right now, but don’t let that color your weapon choice too much. In GW2, being able to control a fight is infinitely more important than seeing lots of numbers pop up.